Ongoing research

ENHANCE+: Building clinical capacity to support women Veteran survivors of Military sexual trauma

This project builds on the recommendations of the ENHANCE project (2022/3) undertaken by Combat Stress. The recommendations were co-produced with women Veterans with lived experience of mental health difficulties, many of whom experienced Military sexual trauma (MST) during military Service.

Aim

The ENHANCE+ project aims to build and widen clinical capacity and understanding of women Veterans, their needs, and best-evidenced treatment, with a specific focus on Military sexual trauma (MST).

Method

The project consists of three arms.

  • The first arm will create and disseminate a three-tiered UK-wide education and training programme for health professionals in contact with women Veterans.  It will be free at point of access.  An online, self-guided course will be provided to increase understanding of women Veterans’ experiences and needs, aimed at all professionals coming into contact with women Veterans. This will be further developed during knowledge-sharing and advanced practice workshops.  Finally, fully-funded training places in Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) – identified as the best-evidenced treatment for PTSD resulting from MST in women Veterans – will be provided for appropriately qualified mental health professionals.
  • The second arm will develop a supportive treatment module to address the negative impact of sexual harassment, discrimination, and the effects of being a gender-minority during military Service. These experiences also fall within the MST continuum but are not typically addressed by existing treatments which focus on specific experience(s).  It will be co-designed with Veteran experts and women Veterans with lived experience.
  • The third arm of ENHANCE+ will explore women Veterans’ unique resilience and coping strategies and it will produce guidance and recommendations on the use of resilience-building interventions for women Veterans, as well as testing the applicability of the resilience model in a real-world context.